


Take a breath (and let the rest come easy)

by stardustchenle



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: 96 line banter, M/M, Polyamory, more like polygamy, they all like doyoung basically
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-31
Updated: 2019-10-31
Packaged: 2021-01-08 03:58:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,489
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21229430
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/stardustchenle/pseuds/stardustchenle
Summary: Doyoung is a college student with too much stress and not enough time. He definitely doesn't think he has time for relationships, but it's also thanks to three guys suddenly always around him that Doyoung learns to live in the moment more, once he decides he wants to try.The only problem is, Doyoung is one and there is three of them. And they are all roommates, of course.Prompt #S20





	Take a breath (and let the rest come easy)

**Author's Note:**

> this is my first time writing a full fic for a ship from the hyung line, I had been wanting to try for a long and this fest was the perfect chance. Tell me what you thought!  
Title from "Dear Maria, Count Me In" by All Time Low

Doyoung has no time. He has no time in general, much less to go out when he has an 8:30 class the next morning, and that’s what he reminds his roommates for the upteenth time.

“Ugh, come ooon…” Ten drags out, draped on his bed in the right corner of Doyoung’s field of vision. “We haven’t gone out all three together in ages, and the school year just started! You can’t have that much to study already!” 

“Not true, we went out two weeks ago. And you know how it is, not during the week.” 

Ten scoffs. “It was at least a month ago! Doyoung…”

“Let him be, you know how much he cares. He’ll snap when the stress gets too much and come too, since he _ still _ doesn’t have a coping mechanism that isn’t getting drunk after months of bottling up.” Doyoung glances to his right, ignoring the not-subtle-at-all stab in Kun’s words as he comes out of the bathroom, hair styled and gelled contrary to when he entered. 

Kun goes to pick up a blazer jacket from his closet and starts to speak again as he wears it, turning towards Doyoung at the end to better get his point across by raising his brows. “You know, you could let yourself have fun without the only cause being exhaustion if you found yourself a hobby to destress. Or a boyfriend.” 

Doyoung is about to comment on how he doesn’t have any time for a hobby or a relationship either, but he ultimately decides not to, and stops himself from rolling his eyes too. He knows his friends simply care about him and he appreciates it, really. He just doesn’t know how to deal with the stress of everything he has to do to not fail, and that takes up too much of his mind already. He settles for not saying anything in response.

Ten gets up with a huff, clearly disappointed at Doyoung for not coming with them. Again. 

He joins Kun at the door, turning towards Doyoung again once he’s there. “Alright, we’re leaving. Since you’re staying, at least don’t go to bed too late, okay? You need that sleep.”

Doyoung spins completely towards them in his office chair and raises an eyebrow at Ten’s finger pointed towards him. “And you don’t?”

Ten rolls his eyes, but he’s fighting back a smile just as Doyoung is. “Shut up. Unlike you I at least have the common sense to sleep through my morning classes if I have to, _ dumbass _.”

“You two,” Kun interjects, “are idiots.” 

He gestures towards the view they have of the hallway outside. ”Ten, come on. See you later Doyoung!”

After he has waved back and the door has closed behind Kun’s expensive-looking jacket and Ten’s ear piercings and dangling earring, Doyoung focuses back on his laptop. There’s no way Taeyong is going to have a better argument than him this time.

The day after, Taeyong ends up having a great argument, actually. Doyoung’s presentation is refined enough to not get completely overshadowed by it, maybe, but it’s _ good. _Every time the professor has asked them in the past to reflect on a subject or topic and then share their thoughts with the class, Taeyong has always been good at it. Doyoung has heard he writes music and lyrics, and believes that must have something to do with why he’s so good with words. 

Doyoung isn’t lacking in ideas to share and has plenty of opinions, plenty. He isn’t bad at expressing them either, but he still finds himself struggling most of the times to match how nicely Taeyong just… explains things.

The worst part is, Taeyong is not only blissfully unaware of the rivalry Doyoung has established between the two of them, but also extremely nice and kind to everybody. Which means that Doyoung’s first instinct of steaming off frustration by not interacting with Taeyong outside of a couple of sarcastic comments here and there is out of the question. He might be petty, but he isn’t that cruel. 

To make the situation seem even more like a big joke at Doyoung’s expense, Taeyong seems to have taken a liking to him too, since he has tried many times to start up a conversation after their shared class. 

Today is no different.

Doyoung sees a flash of pink hair approaching out of the corner of his eye at the end of the lesson and pretends that putting his notebook away is an action that requires a much longer time than it should. Not that it would serve any practical purpose in stopping the mop of pink from getting closer, but it at least saves him the awkwardness of staring at Taeyong, or purposefully looking everywhere else in the room, as the other approaches.

“Doyoung, hi!”

He’s still fake-rummaging through his backpack when he hears the greeting, to which he straightens up to say hello back. Taeyong is standing in front of his seat and fidgeting with his fingers under the too-long sleeves of his shirt. 

“Are you- are you doing something now?”

Of _ course_, outside of class is when he gets shy and stumbles over his words? 

Doyoung holds back from rolling his eyes as he gets up and throws the backpack over his shoulder. Polite even if he is petty, polite even if he is petty.

“I am, actually. I wanted to get some more studying done, I have an psychology paper I have to work on for next week.”

“Oh. I see.” Taeyong deflates. He seems in every way similar to a sad puppy now, Doyoung can’t think of a better analogy to describe him. A sad puppy with pink hair and light blue sweater paws, courtesy of his oversized shirt. And a pout. 

He looks kinda cute.

Doyoung wants to shake his head to get the thought out of it. No, he does _ not _ look cute. His expression, posture and clothes at the moment are cute. Not _ Taeyong. _

“See you next lesson?” the question sounds hopeful, but Doyoung is too eager to get out of the room and avoid seeing any more of Taeyong’s unnecessarily endearing antics to come up with a reply that would dampen his enthusiasm.

“Yeah! Yeah, sure. I have to go now, bye Taeyong.”

“Bye!”

* * *

Not even a minute after he sat down and took some books out of his bag, someone in a black apron slides onto the chair opposite from him.

“Missed me that much already?”

Doyoung sighs. “Shut up Yuta, you know why I have no other options for a café to study at.”

Yuta leans back against the chair as he tugs behind his ear a strand of cherry red hair that escaped from his short ponytail. No one should have hair looking like that in everyday life, it’s almost unfair. 

“Yeah yeah, I know. Screw big capitalist coffee corporations!”

Doyoung nods. “Exactly.”

The barista cocks his head to the side with a mischievous glint in his eyes. “Capitalism might not be that bad though, you know what?”

Doyoung raises an eyebrow, incredulous. He would probably be just as surprised if Yuta had randomly grown a second head all of a sudden. “Excuse me?”

Yuta shifts forward, resting his forearms against the edge of the table and leaning towards Doyoung.

“I think it might be worth it in the end, if it brings you here almost every day,” he says in a lower voice. 

Doyoung wants to smack the smirk off of his face. 

“Instead I think that you should shove off. And the customer is always right, isn’t that how it goes?”

Yuta raises his hands in defeat, but he’s still smirking. “Wouldn’t argue against you while on shift anyway.” He gets up. “I’m gonna bring you the usual, be right back.”

With a wink, he is off.

Once Doyoung actually starts studying and his drink is placed on the table in front of him, the barista doesn’t come to bother him again. Thinking about it, Yuta may try to flirt with him every time he comes to the café, but then always leaves him be when Doyoung has actual work to do, papers to write or pages of notes to copy. He appreciates it, not that he would ever tell.

About half an hour later, the little bell above the glass door chimes. Doyoung glances up and sees a group of about six or seven young teens coming in. He doesn’t think much about them at first, but it’s kind of impossible not to pay attention to them when they’re talking and laughing rather loudly. The chatter gets more noisy and more distracting the closer they walk to Doyoung, apparently with the intention of sitting in the empty table in front of him.

Doyoung sighs and attempts to concentrate even harder, but covering his ears with his hands while trying to not make it obvious has no success. He shifts his gaze around and notices Yuta looking at him and at the group of teens with a slightly concerned expression. 

The kids are less than a metre away from Doyoung when suddenly a flash of red hair and an apron slide into view and intercept them.

“Hello, welcome! If you guys want, since it’s a nice day, we have a big table outside that would fit all of you. Is that okay?”

There is a general positive response from the group, to which Yuta smiles dazzlingly and claps once. 

“Great! I’ll show you the way and come back very soon with the menus, alright? This way please.”

When Yuta passes near his table again to get the menus, Doyoung leans to the side of his chair and stops him.

“Hey, hey! Did you- did you do that on purpose?”

Yuta winks. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

* * *

Doyoung is a stressed, busy college student. He doesn’t have time to confront people doing something illegal, and much less to get his ass beaten. But if the college life has one effect, it’s making students care less and less about their general well-being, so there’s that. That’s how he finds himself calling out the all-black-wearing figure graffiting a wall of his university from on top of a ladder.

“Hey! That’s pretty illegal, you know?”

Great job Doyoung, really intimidating.

The figure turns towards him. “Not if you have a permit.”

“And you do?”

The guy in black climbs off the ladder with an amused huff and stands in front of Doyoung, who notices that the stranger is _ tall. _ If he were to punch Doyoung, it wouldn’t be pretty. Exactly the right person to potentially piss off by calling them a criminal, isn’t he?

The guy puts a hand inside of his leather jacket and Doyoung can only think that there’s a small chance he’s going to pull out a gun, but luckily his hand comes out holding only a simple folded piece of paper. He hands it over to Doyoung, who opens it and sees that it is indeed a permit from the school to paint a murales. Well.

“Oh. I’m sorry, that’s- that’s great. Sorry again.”

The other shrugs his shoulders. “It’s cool, don’t worry. I get why you would want to check on me. I’m Johnny, by the way.”

Doyoung takes and shakes the hand Johnny is offering him.

“I’m Doyoung.”

* * *

In a library, wearing a big pastel sweater and surrounded by little kids is not where you would expect to next find the edgy graffiti artist you met as he committed what you thought was a felony, but that is where Doyoung sees Johnny for the second time. The children are sitting around him at one of the large tables as they colour on some papers, while Johnny helps them cut the drawings out and attach them on some cardboard pencil holders. The kids hang from his shoulders with excited smiles on their faces and look like they adore Johnny just as much as he looks like he loves them.

Doyoung walks on with a little smile and goes to leave the books he has to return to the front desk. He begins flipping through the new ones he checked out as he walks towards the main entrance of the library, when he turns a corner after a shelf and crashes into soft wool.

“Oof! Sorry.”

“It’s okay, don’t worr- Doyoung?”

He tilts his head up, confused. _ “Johnny?” _

Johnny chuckles. “We really have to stop meeting with you apologising to me.”

“Yeah…” Doyoung replies, taking a step back and scratching the back of his neck. “I saw you with the kids before, looked like you were having fun.”

Johnny’s face lights up at the mention of the children and a smile appears on his face. “Oh! I was! Those little ones are adorable, I love every time I get to meet them every two weeks.”

Doyoung shakes his head. “And I thought you were some sketchy vandal wearing all black who could’ve possibly beaten me up for calling you out…”

The other laughs, and it sounds warm and comfortable. 

“Nah, I hate to break through the bad boy first impression you had, but I’m only an art student. That’s how I ended up doing the murales, one of my professors made us create possible sketches for it as a project and ended up choosing mine at the end.”

“And what about working here?”

“I love seeing people get passionate about art or try it out for the first time, so around last year I thought about asking if they needed any help for the afternoon activities. The kids are so incredibly _ creative_, you wouldn’t believe it! I liked it right from the start, and I’m continuing this year too. It’s fun to always try and bring something new for them.”

Wow. That’s admirable. Doyoung can tell how much Johnny cares, anyone would notice it, and it’s nice to see. Spending the majority of your time among college kids means that you aren’t exactly surrounded by passion and love for what one has to do at all times, but things seem to be the exact opposite for Johnny in that regard compared to the regular student.

It feels like his passion could be contagious, even.

At that, Doyoung remembers the sentence Kun told him about a week prior: _ “You know, you could let yourself have fun without the only cause being exhaustion if you found yourself a hobby to destress.” _ and thinks that maybe, this time, he could have an actual half of a chance.

“Could you show me more of what you do? I think I’d like… to try?”

Johnny’s face lights up again as he enthusiastically agrees and starts to name possibilities of what the two of them could do, asking for Doyoung’s opinion after each of them.

Doyoung wonders why the last words of what Kun said come to his mind at that moment, and he tries to not focus much of his thoughts on them. _ “Or a boyfriend."_

Thirty minutes later, they find themselves at the park as the sun begins to set and they sky starts to turn to shades of orange. They had driven to their university so that Johnny could show Doyoung some of the works and projects in his art room locker. Doyoung had liked his photography a lot, so that’s how they ended up at the park with Johnny’s camera. 

Johnny is showing the small screen, gesticulating as he explains why he chose certains settings for the picture he just took based on the time of day and exposure. 

“Why did you have your camera at uni? Aren’t those very expensive?”

Johnny turns towards him. “I spend a lot of time there and it’s closer to the centre, so it’s easier to go pick it up when I get inspiration while I’m studying or at work and stuff. And my roommates are great, but I don’t know if I would trust to leave my camera at home with them hahaha.”

Doyoung snorts. “Fair. What were you saying about exposure?” 

Johnny starts explaining again; the warm light from the setting sun makes his skin appear more golden as he moves and talks in front of the orange, pink and red sky. The realisation washes over Doyoung that he really wants to take a picture of Johnny in that moment and preserve the image in front of his eyes. He thinks that his supposition was right, then, Johnny’s passion about art must be contagious. If not, why else would he suddenly want to?

* * *

Doyoung reads for the second time the same line of the document his professor has published on the drop box for the class.

_ Lee Taeyong, Kim Doyoung. _

He sighs out of habit, but soon realises that he doesn’t feel as disappointed or even slightly annoyed as he thought he’d be. He sees it from a perspective he never let himself be in before: working with Taeyong can’t be that bad, maybe it’d mean learning a thing or two about how he speaks and writes so well. 

Doyoung looks up and scans the classroom until he spots Tayong a couple of rows closer to the front. He seems to be reading or browsing through a notebook, maybe looking for the notes of the last lesson. Doyung pockets his phone, adjusts his still-full backpack on his shoulder and walks towards the other, stopping at his side.

“Hi.”

Taeyong seems surprised to see him, or most likely of the fact that he came up to him.

“Doyoung? Uh, hi. What’s up?”

“Have you seen what the professor uploaded this morning?”

He furrows his brows. “I didn’t, was it something important?”

“We are partners for the project for next month.”

Taeyong widens his eyes. “_ Oh! _ Are you… are you okay with it?"

“Yeah, I am. It could be cool,” Doyoung says, and he actually means it. The him of last week would have been the opposite, but the one of the present has realised that his antics were stupid and he has no intention of keeping them up. He wants to try to take everything more… easy.

“Mind if I sit here?” he asks a still surprised-looking Taeyong, but plops down on the seat next to him before the other can manage an answer that’s more than a strangled sound from the back of his throat and the blush on his cheeks getting deeper. Doyoung smirks to himself. Cute.

* * *

Ten cleans his mouth with a napkin. “You know, you look happier lately.”

Doyoung looks up from his hamburger. “Mmh?”

Kun agrees. “Yeah, and today too. Been a good day?”

Doyoung thinks back at the afternoon and at how brainstorming for the project with Taeyong has been great. He had suggested going to his usual coffee shop, but Taeyong had told him that it could’ve been awkward because of a friend of his’ working there who would’ve for sure teased him to no end, so they ended up staying at a bubble tea place Taeyong knew which was nice and bright. They managed to get a lot done and worked well together, and after a couple of hours they also had time to talk and get to know each other.

“Yeah, I guess so.”

“Is that a _ smile _ I see?! Attention everyone, he’s not a massive prick all the time anymore!” Ten teases him.

“Shut up. Are you two going somewhere tonight?”

“We were thinking of maybe going dancing...”

Doyoung nods. “I want to come too.”

Ten stops his hand in mid air from bringing a french fry to his mouth. “What?”

Kun eyes him almost worriedly. “Has the stress gotten too much already? You seemed fine!”

“No no, it’s nothing like that. I’ve just been trying to… enjoy my time more and take it easier.”

Ten puts the paper takeaway bag to the side and jumps up on his feet. “What are we waiting then! Let’s start getting ready before he changes his mind!”

Doyoung looks up at him to reassure him: “Won’t happen this time.”

* * *

Doyoung walks into the semi-lit shop, causing a chime from the little bell above the entrance as he pushes the door open.

"I'm sorry, we are closed!" the figure behind the counter calls out, before turning towards him. 

"Doyoung?"

Doyoung snorts. "That seems to be a popular reaction to me lately."

He walks closer, stopping opposite Yuta with his hands in his pockets. "Hi."

"Hey. Any reason you're here?"

Doyoung sighs. "Don't worry, I don't want anything to drink, I just… needed company, I guess? It's been a rough day but I'm trying to not get as stressed about uni, so I was walking by and I thought I'd see if you were here."

Yuta smiles calmly, without a hint of his usual flirting tone. "I'm basically done here and then I'm free, if you wait for me then we can go somewhere."

"Yeah, sure. I'm gonna wait outside."

One or two minutes later, Yuta walks out the café with a jacket on and a small white and orange box in his left hand. Only after he locks the door and puts the keys in his pocket, Doyoung asks about the box.

Yuta raises it higher between them. "We had some brownies left, and instead of throwing them out I thought we could go eat them near the river. What do you think?"

"Sounds great to me."

Doyoung throws his head back, laughing at what the other just said. When he looks forward again, Yuta is smiling.

"What's the smirk for?"

Yuta's expression turns into fake exaggerated smugness. "I knew someday you would fall for my irresistible charm…" He scrolls his head and his red hair, loose and not in a ponytail since he's not at work, moves from side to side accordingly. Again, it looks too good to be fair for someone who's not a celebrity or a manga character.

Doyoung shoves his shoulder. "Shut up, you just got lucky."

Yuta laughs. "Seems like it's the air then! One of my roomates yesterday finally got a chance with a classmate he's had a crush on for a year, and the other one keeps telling us about this guy he's met recently."

Doyoung smiles, then his gaze falls on his wristwatch.

"We've been here _ two hours?!" _

Yuta seems surprised too. "Really? That would explain why it started to get chilly… Do you need to go home?"

Doyoung shrugs. "Not really, actually."

"Oh. Uhm, cool." Yuta suddenly seems unsure. "Would you maybe like to… go to mine's to watch a movie, or drink a beer, or... I don't know. Not in a bad way! Without any second meaning, just… a movie."

"I'd like that."

"_ Oh. _Great. Great. Let's go then?"

* * *

Yuta has probably noticed Doyoung looking at the drawing hung next to the entrance, because he explains: "One of my roommates made that, he's good at anything creative, really."

The style looks vaguely familiar to Doyoung, but he can't pinpoint why. It's really good, anyway.

They get to the living room, and Doyoung spots on the coffee table the same book as one of those he needs to study on. Maybe one of Yuta's roommates is in his same major, that would be a funny coincidence.

"What do you want to watch? We have some dvds, or we can go on Netflix, it's up to you."

Before he can answer, a familiar voice calls from behind the door of what he assumes must be the kitchen: "Yuta, is that you? I made some cookies, do you want one?"

It clicks in Doyoung's mind a second before he turns to the side and meets eyes with the person coming out of the kitchen, who freezes on the spot. His hair is purple instead of pink this time, he must've dyed it earlier in the day.

"Hi Taeyong." 

Yuta turns towards them. "Oh, you know each other?"

Taeyong sends Yuta a look which Doyoung can very well imagine the meaning of. 

Doyoung opens and closes his mouth a couple of times, unsure of what to say. "Yuta, you know what you told me before about your roommate? I think I might be… that classmate."

Yuta seems at loss for words too.

"I- Wow. Okay. Uhm..." He runs a hand over his face, then says lowly to himself with a hint of amusement: "Uff, Johnny would never believes us..."

Doyoung has a second revelation. The drawing beside the door suddenly makes sense and he's starting to think this is all one big joke at his expenses.

"Wait, is Johnny the one that did the murales for the university?" He asks Taeyong.

"He is, yeah, why?"

Doyoung groans. "Call him too, if he's home. And Taeyong, I think we're going to need those cookies."

Ten minutes and the needed explanations after, Doyoung is sat on one end of the sofa and looking at Johnny, Taeyong and Yuta.

Johnny breaks the awkward silence first, addressing what everyone is too embarrassed to ask: "So… what do we need to do?"

Doyoung rubs the palm of his hands on his jeans. "That's the thing, I… I like each of you, even if maybe not… romantically yet, and I don't know what to do either. I don't want to lose any of you, in whatever way that might be."

"Maybe there is a way you don't have to choose."

They all look at Taeyong.

"I mean, you can continue to hang out with each of us, and if it ends up being romantic, you can choose then. But if it does happen and you feel the same way for all or two of us, I wouldn't mind… sharing."

"You mean polyamory?" Yuta asks.

_ Oh. _Doyoung understands where Taeyong is coming from.

"I'm suggesting trying it."

"Wait," Johnny interjects "Doesn't polyamory mean that we would all be together?"

"Not necessarily, it can also be only one person being polyamorous and being in more relationships, if everyone's in on it." 

Johnny nods in understanding, and the room falls silently again. This time, Yuta is the first to speak.

"I'm down with it, if you are. And if Johnny is too, of course."

Johnny nods and smiles warmly, shifting his gaze from Yuta to Doyoung. "I am."

Doyoung takes a deep breath. That seems too good to be true. But if there's one thing he has learned lately, also thanks to the three boys in front of him, is to enjoy the moment and not worry too much when there is no need.

He smiles. "I'd like to try as well."

He looks from Taeyong, to Yuta, to Johnny, all beaming back at him. He can see this working.

After a moment of just looking he sits up, gesturing to the others and starting to move on the couch towards them.

"Now make space you three, I want to be in the middle when we watch the movie."


End file.
